Apparatus for producing distilled water.



B. BLEIGKEN.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING DISTILLED WATER APPLICATION FILED JAN. 19,1914.1, 1 O2, 1 31 Patented June 30, 1914L m AI PUMP MAIN CONDENSER COOLINGWATER TO BELOW SEA LEVEL water has no efiect on the water-level in theBERTHOLD- BLEICKEN, OF GRClSS-IBORSTEL, NEAR HAMBURG, GERMANY.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUQING DISTILLED WATER.

Specification of Letters I'atent.

Patented June 30, 1914.

Application flied January 19, 1914. Serial No. 813,085.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BER'IHOLD BLEIGKEN, acitizen of the German Empire, and residing at Gross-Borstel, nearHamburg, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inApparatus for Producing Distilled /Vater, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to apparatus for producing distilled water, inwhich the evaporation is effected in a partial vacuum.

A primary object of my invention is to provide an evaporator for shipsin which the water level shall depend solely on the vacuum in theevaporator and on the height of the latter above the free water-level,and shall be independent of the quantity of water fed to the evaporator,while at the same time an undue increase in the salinit of the water inthe evaporator is prevente It is thus possible to feed more water to theevaporator than is evaporated without any variation in the water-levelin the evaporator, the surplus water being returned by a pipeterminating below the free water-level.

Owing to the constant excessive feed ofwater, the percentage of salt inthe water cannot increase to any appreciable extent, so that it isunnecessary to periodically blow the excessively salt water out of theevaporator aS was hitherto unavoidable in vacuum evaporators such aS areused on shipboard. In addition, as an excessive feed of evaporator, thepreheated cooling water of the condenser can be discharged at a highvelocity into a descending pipe connecting the upper header of theevaporator with the lower one, whereby the circulation in the descendingpipe and in the evaporator is considerably accelerated and theefliciency of the apparatus increased as a result. To these ends Iprovide the evaporator with a brine discharge conduit WhlCh terminatesbelow a free water-level.

The invention consists in the construction, arran ement and combinationof parts describe hereinafter and pointed out in the claims.

One illustrative embodiment of the invention adapted to producedistilled water on a sea-going steamer is represented by way of examplein the accompanying drawing, wherein :-the figure is an e ovation of thewhole apparatus.

The evaporator comprises a stack of tubes a, an upper header 6 and alower header 0.

The tubes a are disposed within the smoke the outsidesof the tubescontaining the seawater to be distilled. The evaporator is incommunication with a pipe 1- which terminates at its lower endunderneath the level of the sea outside the ship. A descending pipe fconnects the upper header 6 with the lower header 0. The height of theheader b .above sea level varies with the loading of the ship, but thelevel of the water in the header 1s maintained at a convenient height byregulating the degree of vacuum.

For the purpose of evaporating any water entrained by the steam,additional. tubes 6 are provided for drying the steam,

:which tubes pass from the upper header 6 I through the stack 2' to acondenser g, mount- 1 ed on the latter. By drying the steam, I insurethe absence of salt in the distillate.

The cooling water for the condenser may be fed to the condenser by antype of pump and is led to the condenser by pipe :0. The condenser isprovided with the cooling-water discharge pipe h, which is connected tothe pipe 1' and is adapted to discharge the cooling water into thelatter.

The pipe in is provided with the branch pipe on which opens in the formof a nozzle 3 into the pipe f, so that the discharged cooling water isable to enter the pipe f in the form of a powerful 'et. The condensationchamber of the con enser is provided with the outflow pipe (1. Thelatter leads to the water seal is which is connected by a pipe (notshown) with a suitable fresh water tank (also not shown). The condenseris connected b the pi e-u with an air-pump (not shownE: or wit anexisting main condenser whic is also not shown.

The action of the a paratus is as follows :The evaporator 1s filled byopenin the valve 2, whereupon the water rises wit a pressurecorresponding to the draft of the ship, up to the water-line of thelatter. On 0 ening the valve m the main condenser of t e air-pump isconnected with the condenser g and with the evaporator, the result beingt at the water to be evaporated rises according to the vacuum in theevaporator. The u per header of the evaporator is arrange so that asufiiciently large evaporatw ing surface is obtained.

Owing to the water in the bank of tubes a being heated it rises in thesame and flows through the pipe it into the conduit and another partthrough the branch ipe w in the form of a powerful jet into t e pipe f,whereby it exerts a suction action on the water flowing out of theheader 6 and thereby correspondingly accelerates thecirculation.

Owing to its being possible to feed a surplus of condenser cooling-waterto the evaporator the enrichment of the brine due to evaporation can bekept within certain limits. As the quantity of cooling water exceedsthat of the distilled by 15 to 20 times, there is sufficient water atdisposal for feeding the evaporator to keep the percentage of salt inthe water to be evaporated equal to the small percentage of salt in theseawater, without the slightest variation in the water-level of theupper header. Since the water-level in the upper header is dependentonly on the vacuum in the latter and on the height of the upper headerabove the level of the sea, all surplus water fed to the evaporator mustflow back through the pipe 1' into the sea. lln this manner a reliable,continuous and automatic feed of the evaporator is insured without anyregulating devices which are liable to interrupt the water feed, as wellas energetic blowing on the evaporator without increased consumption ofsteam and without cooling the evaporator by pressing all the coolingwater therethrough. The distillate formed in the condenser flows awaythrou h the pipe d, and the water-seal it; into t e fresh water tanks. r

1 claim A 1. lln apparatus for distilling water, the combination with anevaporator, of a descending pipe jconnectingga the upper portion of saidevaporator with the lower portion thereof, a second pipe connected tothe lower ortion of the evaporator and terminating low the level of thestore of water to be distilled, a condenser connected to the upperportion of the evaporator, and a condenser cooling water pipe openingintothe u er part of said descending pipe and also dlfiverin below thelevel of the flow of water to be distilled.

2. In apparatus for distilling sea-water, the combination of anevaporator comprising an upper header and a lower header, and connectingpipes between said headers a condensing chamber connected to the u perheader, a descending pipe connecting t e upper header with the lowerheader, a second pipe connected to the lower header and terminatingbelow the level of the sea, and a condenser cooling-water pipe openinginto the upper part of said descending pipe and into thesecond pipe.

.l lln testimony whereof, I affix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

BERTHQLD lBLElCKEN.

Witnesses:

CARL Sonernn, Emir. Hanan.

